How to Avoid Weight Gain Right Now Leesburg, VA

Like the rest of humanity, have you been noticing your weight ever-so-steadily creeping up in recent months? To help you keep your weight in check, here are some proven weight-management tools we’d like to share, based on a recent article in everydayhealth.com.

1. Ask for help!
Here at AVIE!, we offer the ProLon Fasting Mimicking Diet^™, which is clinically proven to help slim belly fat and reduce inflammation. We love ProLon because it’s a safe and fool-proof way to reset your metabolism and detox your body. We like to think of it as a way to jumpstart a healthier lifestyle or body contouring regimen. What’s more, once you’ve achieved your ideal weight, body contouring treatments like CoolSculpting^® and EMSCULPT^® can help you slim, trim and tone specific “problem spots” to get you closer to your ideal body without the stress.
2. Eat smarter.
All those chips are tempting to toss into your cart, and while they certainly taste yummy in the moment, they may actually be stoking and perpetuating your cravings, according to research in the journal Cell Metabolism. In a recent study, adults ate “ultra-processed” foods (i.e., food that comes in packages with long ingredient lists) for two weeks and then ate unprocessed foods for two weeks. During the processed diet phase of the study, adults consumed about 500 additional calories per day.
3. Drink more water.
The ultimate hydrator is water, and it’s calorie-free! Drinking water throughout the day helps you stay hydrated, but it also helps your belly stay a little bit full, helping to quell hunger pangs. According to a review of animal studies in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, adequate water intake was associated with weight loss. The researchers concluded that drinking water may promote a healthy metabolism to burn fat and improve insulin sensitivity as well as decrease food consumption. Another promising study found that drinking 2 cups of H20 boosted the metabolic rate of participants by 30% for up to an hour.
4. Stress less.
Eating junk food when you’re stressed out makes perfect sense from a chemical standpoint. When we’re stressed, the stress hormone cortisol spikes, and eating sugar helps thwart the release of cortisol in the brain, helping you feel calmer. Unfortunately, eating sugar also starts a vicious cycle of sugar cravings; the more sugar you eat the more you want. Rather than cutting out sugar entirely, which only leads to more cravings, experts advise portion control. Try keeping single-size servings handy, like pudding cups, mini cookies or ice cream pops.
5. Practice portion control.
We’re all aware that food portions have grown larger over the years, which has skewed our perception of what’s a “normal” amount of food. Fortunately, limiting your portion size offers immediate progress. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who served themselves smaller portions ate less the next day, too! By shrinking your serving size for one meal, you are helping to retrain your brain into accepting less. A helpful tip when starting to reduce portion sizes: Try using smaller plates or bowls for your meals.
6. Be mindful of eating out of boredom.
We often eat because we are bored, when our brains trick us into thinking we’re hungry. Keeping yourself busy can help you stay on track with your eating schedule. You might also limit the number of times you pass your kitchen throughout the day. The saying “out of sight, out of mind,” actually works when it comes to food.
7. Plan what you will eat.
Experts also recommend planning your meals in advance, so you are never stuck without healthy food choices. People who plan their meals have a higher-quality diet and are less likely to be overweight or obese, according to a study in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Therapy.
8. Plan when you are going to eat.
Unstructured “grazing” is an easy way to gain weight, as we tend to grab what’s convenient, which often also happens to be snacks that are not very nutritious or satisfying. Eating randomly also increases our chances of overeating because we tend to lose track of our consumption. A bunch of little “snacks” throughout the day can add up fast.
Putting yourself on an eating schedule helps train your stomach when to be hungry, so you can stay in control of your consumption and plan your meals. A schedule prevents you from feeling blindsided by sudden pangs of hunger, which can lead to poor dietary choices.
To learn more about weight management tools, please don’t hesitate to call us with any questions at 703.870.3844 or request a personal consultation online today!

Sources used in blog:

How to Avoid Weight Gain When You’re Cooped Up Inside

Water-induced Thermogenesis